The barrister said that was no basis on which to convict. In 2003, Evans was said to have indecently assaulted two men in their 20s when he approached them in public places while drunk and put his hand down their trousers – one in a Soho bar and the other at a hotel bar during the 2003 Tory party conference in Blackpool.

The jury heard in his defence that these were examples of "drunken over-familiarity" rather than the ingredients of a criminal offence and Evans had no recollection of either event. Another complainant said he was sexually assaulted by Evans while sleeping on the sofa at the MP's Lancashire home in July 2009.

Evans admitted he had made a pass and apologised to the young man after he was hauled into the Conservative whips' office, the court heard, but denied he had put his hand in the complainant's boxer shorts.

The jury was told the allegation "gathered a momentum of its own" after the man mentioned the incident to another MP last year, which in turn "propelled" him into a meeting with Speaker John Bercow.

He was accused of embellishing his story when it became a police matter but two of his close friends bolstered his allegation by coming forward to say they too had been sexually assaulted by the MP.

One friend said he had to push Evans away after the MP leant in to kiss him behind a curtain near the Strangers Bar at the House of Commons in 2009.

Evans joked the man had "a mouth powered by Duracell" and told police: "I wouldn't kiss him for fear of turning into a frog." The other friend said Evans "cupped" his genitals in the same bar when introduced to him in 2010 - an allegation Evans labelled "absurd".

The MP said both men were lying and said another complainant made up his claim that he pushed him into a darkened kitchenette near the deputy speaker's office and groped him in 2011.

He was a Conservative MP before being elected as one of three deputy speakers in 2010, a politically neutral role.

Evans stepped down as deputy speaker last September after he was charged with the offences involving men who were all in their 20s at the time.

He has not returned to the Conservatives in the Commons and is representing his constituents as an independent.

The jury of seven men and five women was sent out to start its deliberations at about 2.40pm yesterday.